Nic was my best friend. He was a hugely talented guy, a fantastic dad and a loving husband. Nic died of cancer in October aged just 44 years old.

Instead of focusing on his family in his last few months of life, he was forced to spend it battling his life insurance firm Friends Life over his critical illness policy. Despite declaring all previous illnesses, conditions Friends Life cancelled his policy. Nic was convinced that he had given them full disclosure and that when they offered him the policy, they had done their checks. To put it simply, he died of cancer, but they refused to pay over pins and needles. His consultant is outraged at the way Friends Life have treated Nic, and has written to Friends Life, saying: "I think it cruel and highly distasteful that two irrelevant details from his medical history have been used as some sort of pretext to deny him a payment on his critical illness policy."

This has left his wife and kids inheriting a needless battle. Nic was unsure of how this battle would turn out - but I want to try and win it in his memory.

That’s why I’ve started a petition on Change.org demanding that Friends Life pay Nic’s family the money they are owed.

This petition won’t bring Nic back. But it could make a real difference to his family’s future. Please join me in telling Friends Life to do the right thing.

Stephen Fry, Russell Brand, Margaret Atwood, Miranda Hart, Ian Botham and Boy George, Alistair Campbell and Kirsty Gallacher have all tweeted about it too, as have many many others, reaching 10's of millions of followers.

Please sign to help change minds - people not profits. You can like our page on Facebook to get more updates, and find actions you can take on our website.